Chương 140: Chapter 138

"How are we getting back?" came the expected question from a frustrated Clarissa. Katie just kept taking in the view, pointing out things for the clearly disinterested Puffball, and Dan, while listening with half an ear, was examining the place where the portal vanished.

"I, of course, have a plan!" he declared while he absolutely didn't have any plans.

"What is it?" came another predictable question from the irate healer. Sam had a feeling that she saw right through him.

"All in due time, my friend. First, let's look around. There must be a reason why the system led us here…" he answered, 'cleverly' sidestepping the main issue. Clarissa eyed him for a moment and then let out a sigh.

"Fine, but I'm not walking back." Sam nodded and silently joined Katie, also taking a look at the magnificent view provided by nature. Travel fractures, as the players called them, weren't exactly rare, but they weren't common either. They usually showed up when the system really wanted a player to show up somewhere. Sadly, not even his inherited memories held clues about how to recognize travel fractures.

The most common theory was that the system altered the exit portal when the fracture was finished, so no player would be able to tell the difference. Still, while he didn't have an idea how they would get back to Ironwood, he hoped that the reason the system brought them here would also provide a way back. Maybe with another travel fracture, or a 'randomly' generated portal, or some other way. For now, the most important task was to find out where they were and why they were there.

"Anybody found anything?" he asked as he took in the tall mountains enveloping the rather sizeable valley in front of them. They probably wouldn't be leaving via mountain climbing. Clarissa just shook her head, but Dan was ready to report.

"Portal vanished like a fart in the wind. Can't sense even remnant mana." Sam used his own mana sense to confirm the report and nodded in agreement. If he hadn't personally used the portal to arrive here, he wouldn't have been able to tell that there was once a fracture portal there.

"Katie? See anything interesting? Maybe some shenanigans?"

"More birds on the other side of the valley. And something is moving in the forest," came the disconcerting report from the short woman. Sam turned back to the valley and cast his sense out. He instantly recoiled as the sheer chaotic madness of the local mana hit him in the metaphorical face. Either there were defenses set up and something hinky was going on, or the sheer amount of magic thrown around by the local flora and fauna was creating this chaotic mess.

"Boss? What do you sense?" Dan asked curiously, knowing that Sam's Mana Sense was leagues ahead of his.

"Shenanigans…" The descent from where they arrived happened at a slow pace as they kept an eye out for anybody trying to take them out. Fortunately, nothing deemed them worthy to eat, thus their journey so far was undisturbed. Katie went ahead, followed by Clarissa and Dan walking side by side in the middle and Sam brought up the rear, sword and magic ready to strike down anything. Lucky was instructed to stay in the shadows but be prepared to jump out at a moment's notice.

Who the hell knew what the mysterious valley would produce? Upon finishing the descent, the team found themselves in a small-ish clearing with vibrant green grass and a few sparse trees. The trees themselves were tall, with sparse crowns and similar green leaves. Now closer to the actual happenings, they could hear the familiar cries of the Storm Eagles they had seen battling the rather annoying goats.

"Eagles? What are they fighting now?"

"Well, how about we find out?" There wasn't much they could say against that, thus they girded their loins and began their trek toward where the sounds of battle originated. They were, by Sam's estimation, halfway there when they met the first monster of the valley. Sadly, thanks to the chaotic mana in the air, he had trouble pointing out distances exactly. The meeting itself, however, was rather humorous.

When they began their journey through the sparse forest of the valley they kept the lineup, thus all of them had an excellent view when a thick green vine snapped down with extreme speed, grabbed Katie by her waist, and yanked her up in the air. Before any of them could react, the berserker let out a yell of rage and slashed with her giant sword, cutting the vines holding her. She fell a short distance, landing on her feet, glaring up at the tree next to them.

The tree, now revealed to be a monster, grinned maliciously. The bark creaked and opened, revealing a dark light, in three places, respectively creating the malicious grin and angry eyes gazing at them with hunger. The moment the tree moved, Sam's Mana Sense was hit with the unmistakable stench of demonic energies.

He absentmindedly reached out and pushed down Dan's sizzling club as the pyromaniac prepared to unleash fire in a forest, and watched Katie dice the tree monster up into firewood while keeping an eye on the demonic mana. Finally, after a few substantial hacks, the tree collapsed and the demonic mana rose above, leaking out from the eye and mouth holes. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"It's demonic…" he declared while the rest of the team gathered around the monster to see what it dropped. It was a few wood and plant reagents, nothing extremely valuable. However, Sam was more interested in what the demonic mana did. It didn't disperse, instead, it hovered in the air for a heartbeat, then shot off toward a point in the distance. Quickly memorizing the distance, he drew an arrow into the ground with a quick slash of his sword.

"We need another one to find the source!" The only response he received was by an excited yell from Katie, who instantly raised her sword and cut down the next tree.

"Not that one!" CRASH"That's still a tree!" SNAP"Go to the next one!" CRASH"No! The other next one!" ROAR"Yeah, that one!" The second tree monster, probably a treant corrupted by demonic energy, revealed itself with a great roar and vines waving angrily around in the air, lashing out every second at the grinning Katie. Not wanting to let only the girl have fun, yet at the same time not wanting Dan to burn down the forest (for now) he raised his sword and called out to their nominal tank.

"Stay still!" Katie froze and instantly half a dozen vines were wrapped around, tugging her in several directions, but for some reason, she was stuck in the spot. Sam didn't wait a second and let loose a piercing spear of wind, aimed directly at the demonic face of the treant. It pierced through the tough bark of the monster after a very brief struggle. Like the first one, this tree also fell to pieces, the demonic energy escaping through the holes.

Sam watched intently as the mana fled and drew another arrow on the ground. Then they connected the two points, which in turn, pointed them toward the other end of the valley. Not exactly the middle, but slightly to the right. Sam was glad they did this because, at this distance, that would have meant a rather large area to search through for the source.

"So, we know where the demonic energy goes. Let's take a quick break. Make sure Dan knows he has to be careful about using fire magic in a forest and then we can find out what the hell is going on," Sam said, turning toward the pouting pyromaniac.

"Dan. My friend," he began, throwing a hand over the muscled scholar's shoulder.

"I'm sure you know, but only you can prevent forest fires…" Sam hoped that if not his speech, then the giggling girls would stop the man from unleashing an impromptu and unwanted forest fire on them. They trudged through the forest in the direction of the fleeing demonic mana rather slowly, as at Sam's insistence, they tried to find all the corrupted treants and kill them. Treant wood was needed for some crafting professions, so Sam wanted to stack up on them.

The fact that the counter in his quest went up after each kill was just a nice bonus. Sadly, no skill books or interesting things dropped. However, the closer they got to the source, the denser the forest got and the more frequent the treants became. It wasn't rare that after a battle, they left behind entire clearings empty of greenery, only a few pockmarks and grooves in the ground remembering their presence.

"This is so boooooring…" Katie whined as she cut down another treant.

"These stupid trees are so stupid!"

"Must you challenge fate at every opportunity?" Clarissa asked before Sam could.

"Because I want bigger battles?" asked the girl with her head tilted to the side.

"Maybe you'll get your wish," Sam said while pointing up in the sky where a gigantic group of Storm Eagles, wreathed in lightning and dark clouds, were descending on the valley. Behind the group was the biggest, and naturally meanest, looking Storm Eagle, its size dwarfing the other birds by a wide margin.

"The boss arrived!"

"Yes!"

"No! We're not fighting a Storm Eagle boss monster!"

"But why not?"

"Because we can't fly, that's why!"

"Then what are we going to do?"

"Run!"

"Where?"

"Where the demonic source is! If we destroy it, the eagles will probably leave!"

"And if they don't?"

"We learn how to fly…" Rushing forward, they ignored most of the treants, instead cutting through the ensnaring vines that tried to capture them, while in the background the Storm Eagles, with the boss perched high up on a cliff and observing, began to systematically destroy the poor forest. Thankfully, their attack started on the opposite side of where they were heading, so for now they were safe. They dashed between real trees and treants, giving a silent thanks that the valley's floor was pretty much flat.

With the literal storm gathering at their back, it took them only half an hour of running to reach the part where the valley's floor changed from lush greenery into rocky surfaces that kept getting taller and taller, terminating in mountains. Not far from the treeline where a group of treants tried to get into each other's way to get at them was a cave entrance. At a first glance, it looked natural, but Sam suspected it was anything but that.

"In there!" They followed him without a comment and after a few seconds, breathing heavily, all of them stood in the shadows of the cave's entrance looking outside, watching as the storm and eagles slowly ground away at the forest. Sam wondered for a moment how the treants managed to piss off the ornery birds, but then shrugged. For now, they had a different thing to deal with. Turning around, he took in the cavern, unhappily noting that his guess was spot on.

The first few dozen yards of the cave looked like it was created by nature over the eons, but then it transitioned into a smooth but simple surface, obviously created by earth magic. That was the lesser issue. The bigger one was sitting in the middle of the corridor, probably staring at them. He couldn't really say, as he didn't see any eyes. But the sentient pile of moss, known from the thousands of vine-like tentacles at its feet wiggling excitedly (or hungrily), was pretty big.

It was almost as big as Katie, with her armor on. The moss that made up its body was layered upon itself, with a few mushrooms growing randomly and small bugs and insects skittering around. Then the body split open in the middle, revealing a gigantic mouth, filled with gray shadow, the teeth and tongue made from darker shadow, more than likely intent on devouring them.

"Fire! NOW!" Sam yelled and used his own wind magic to boost the fire spear that instinctively left Dan's club. The fire spear boosted by wind magic, almost blue, hit the monster right in the tongue which caused the monster to automatically shut its mouth as if swallowing. For a moment, they could only see a small amount of smoke leaking from the seams of its mouth, then… BAMMM The monster exploded, showering them with bits of damp soil and pieces of moss.

"So! Many! Tentacles!" Clarissa cried out as she cast another cleaning spell on Katie, who was drenched in moss monster pieces. Dan and Sam exchanged a glance and quickly averted their eyes while snickering. Clarissa simply snorted in derision.

"Men…" The simple corridor led them deeper underground, the floor sloping every so little downward. Their journey was hindered by the giant moss monsters. All with gigantic mouths, ready to devour them. Thankfully, they were susceptible to fire and Dan had a lot of fire. Their strategy was rather simple. Katie gathered one to three of the monsters, Clarissa kept her alive while the monsters tried to gnaw on her and Dan unleashed some manner of fire spell while Sam boosted it.

He also made sure that the fire magic didn't consume all the air they needed to breathe because whoever created the underground installation didn't really create it with people who actually needed to breathe in mind. Fighting through the moss monsters, they soon arrived in a chamber. Where Sam could finally see the source of the demonic magic. The others were surprised, but he was rather happy. There was a stone platform, above which was a familiar fracture portal, swirling with demonic mana.

And in front of the platform, similarly made from stone, was a pedestal with a crystal globe, so dark it swallowed any light that shined on it. At regular intervals, a small wisp of visible smoke-like demonic mana appeared from the portal, which was then absorbed by the crystal. The reason he was happy was that the crystal absorbing the demonic mana meant that it was placed there by a demon, which meant they had a way to access this place rather fast.

Which, in turn, meant there was a Shadow Tunnel access point nearby.